


Rooftop

by Corvid_Knight



Series: Mutantstuck [10]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: (mentioned) Wade Wilson, (yes they do stay on the roof), Gen, Mutantstuck, Prompt: Dragged Away, Promptober, implied PTSD, kids on the roof
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-25 23:37:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20920523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corvid_Knight/pseuds/Corvid_Knight
Summary: Dirk probably doesn't register how close you come to slinging him off the fucking roof. You follow through on your turn before you let go of his wrist, shove him back a good three feet further up the roof, and slam yourself back down to normal time before you have a chance to start the breakdown you're pretty sure you're about to have.Coming up behind Dave when he's anywhere high is not even close to a good idea.





	Rooftop

You're just kinda minding your own business—hanging out, keeping an eye out for Wade since he's supposed to be back in a couple hours, trying to figure out where the _fuck_ the bird noises you can hear are coming from. Normal shit to be doing on the roof, business as usual. 

"Normal shit to be doing on the roof." You suspect that's not a normal thing to think, actually, but fuck it. This is a _great_ roof—it's not flat, it's nicely textured so you're not gonna slip, there's baby birds somewhere, no one else is up here with you—that last one's actually a big thing for you. You're alone and safe and everything's fine and for once in your god damn life that's not you lying to yourself. This is really, actually, totally a safe place for you to be. 

Oh shit, you're pretty sure you just pinpointed the location of the nest. It's probably not crows, but you still wanna get a look; you shuffle-step up to the edge of the roof, think about how far you need to lean over to be able to get a glimpse at the nest that's probably right under the edge of the roof— 

A hand clamps down on your shoulder and several circuits in your brain switch off. 

Oh shit. Oh shit shit shit _shit_—

You freeze, shifting up from normal time to something a hell of a lot slower. Not really sure _why_ slower is how you go—you should go faster, you know you should, but your instincts don't seem to give a fuck as to what's most likely to keep you alive. Or at least in one piece. He's not gonna kill you, if that's what he was gonna do he wouldn't just be dragging you back from the edge of the roof—or at least trying to. He pulls at your shoulder, shifts his grip to wrap one arm around your torso—fuck, _that's_ why your first response is to shift down instead of up, it's harder to move you when you're moving slower than everything around you. 

Nothing's stopping you from shifting up now, though, and you do, not in lil' increments but all at once. You go from "everything's moving fast around you" to "everything other than you is barely moving" with no in-between phase, no time for him to react. You're faster now than you were before; you grab his wrist and turn, stepping back and to the side and using the difference between your personal time and normal time to get enough relative speed to yank him between you and the edge, put you in a position to— 

Holyshitno. 

Dirk probably doesn't register how close you come to slinging him off the fucking roof. You follow through on your turn before you let go of his wrist, shove him back a good three feet further up the roof, and slam yourself back down to normal time before you have a chance to start the breakdown you're pretty sure you're about to have. 

Oh, yeah. You hit 1:1 time, hear Dirk's startled gasp, and your legs just go out from under you. Shit, you're still too close to the—

"Dave!" Was Hal there a second ago? Did you just not notice him because he didn't touch you? He touches you now, gets a hand under your arm and drags you a couple feet up the roof before you can go off the edge. Your weight puts him off balance, though—he stumbles, trips, loses his grip as your ass hits the roof next to Dirk, and then _he's_ falling. 

Dirk grabs at you before you can try to dive after him. Maybe you could break his grip by shifting time up, but you can't even start to think about doing that when it might mean you'd be pulling him closer to the edge. Wait, no, you just did think about it. 

_Shit._

Hal's fine. You see him burst into sparks and reform an instant later, steady on his feet and safely back from the edge. The fact that you didn't just get him hurt seems to flick _another_ switch in your chest; you hear yourself make a sound that you can't even start to classify, and you twist out of Dirk's grip and shove your shades up to press the heels of your hands against your eyes. 

Shit. Shit. _Shit._

"Dave—" 

"Don't touch him for a minute, Dirk." Hal doesn't follow his own advice; you know he's the one who puts a hand on your shoulder just by the disgruntled sound that Dirk makes. "What happened?" 

You can totally answer that. It's simple: you almost threw Dirk off the _fucking_ roof. 

No way can you say that. 

You shake your head and dig your teeth into your bottom lip, pressing harder against your face. You're gonna see stars when you take them down, you're effectively blinding yourself for the near future, what the fuck's wrong with you? 

"Hey." Dirk's hand comes down on your other shoulder. "You're okay." 

"I. Almost pushed you off the _roof._" Oh shit you sound bad. Even to yourself you sound bad. "Dirk—" 

"Did he really?" Hal asks. Thank fuck it's not directed at you. 

"He didn't even come close." 

"That's—" 

"Dave, seriously." Dirk's hand leaves your shoulder, and you hear him scooting around in front of you; a moment later his hands close around your wrists, pulling gently enough that it's your choice whether you take your hands down or not. You go with _not_, and he stops after a second, just sitting there holding onto you. "You didn't push me off, so you weren't going to." 

Somewhere off to the side, Hal snorts. "We need to talk about what 'coming close' means, bro." 

"Oh, fuck you. I'm fine, right?" 

"Dave isn't." 

You should probably give some input here. "Gimme a sec." Dammit, why can't you just say you're fine and be done with it? 

"That's an improvement over 'I'm fine,'" Dirk says, way too dryly for a statement that implies he's reading your mind. "You're getting better." 

"A little better," Hal amends, sitting down next to you. "When we don't sneak up on you and scare the shit out of you, anyway." 

"Yeah, I won't be doing that when you're on the roof anymore, thanks." Dirk huffs, hesitates, and continues like he doesn't want to be saying what he's saying. "...I thought you were going to fall." 

"I told you he wouldn't." 

"Shut up, Hal." 

"Make me." 

Okay, no. "If y'all start fighting up here, I'm gonna lose my shit." 

They both shut up for a moment at that. Then Hal asks, almost meekly, "...can we go back in the house so I can kick his ass, then?" 

You have to fucking grin, as you take your hands off your face and pull your shades back where they belong. "Y'know what, let's get down and then we can talk about it."


End file.
